The invention relates to an electrical connector and, more particularly, to a branch connector for a coaxial cable with at least one outer and one inner conductor.
Due to the great increase in the use of microcomputers, home computers, word processing equipment and their accompanying visual display terminals, printer units, memory equipment, etc., it is often necessary for the transfer of information between the various users in practice to have a local connection network by means of which this equipment can be interconnected. In office environments in particular it is often necessary for the connection of equipment to have the possibility of branching off this connection network at any desired point.
A large number of units can be interconnected by means of coaxial cable and for that purpose have suitable coaxial junction boxes. These local interconnection networks are therefore largely built up of coaxial cable.
In the current networks, the equipment is generally connected by means of terminal boxes. This means a T-shaped interconnection element which is provided with coaxial junction boxes, to each end of which a coaxial cable is connected by means of a coaxial plug. This manner of connection is fairly expensive for building up a local connection network and it is not possible with it to make branches in a cable in use without interrupting the stream of information flowing through it.
With a branch connector such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,182 granted Nov. 9, 1954 to Edlen et al., branching of a cable in use can be achieved, but this requires three successive operations. First, the coaxial cable to be branched must be confined in the feed through channel by means of a cover connected hingedly to the housing of the branch connector, and this cover must be locked by means of a screw. During this operation, the outer conductor of the coaxial cable to be branched is contacted. The penetration pin for contacting the inner conductor of the coaxial cable to be branched can then be screwed into the housing. Finally, one end of the coaxial cable to be connected must be preworked in such a way that the insulating outer sheath and the outer conductor are removed over a length round the insulating inner sheath and the inner sheath must be removed over a shorter length round the Inner conductor This is a fairly time-consuming exercise, in which there is a great risk of undesirable damage to the cable to be connected. This preworked end must subsequently be brought into contact in clamped fashion with the housing and the penetration pin.